The Importance of the Handshake

We keep talking about the “new normal” once the COVID-19 pandemic is over and wondering how different life will truly be.

Certainly in the beginning there will be many changes but my guess is that as time goes on we’ll fall back into the way we used to live before mid-March when everything came tumbling down.

So does that mean a return of the handshake which has disappeared from society? It was only a few weeks ago that rock star doctor Anthony Fauci said he does not think we should ever shake hands again because if one person has those bad germs on their hand they could pass it on to someone else who after shaking hands touches their face.

The handshake has been around forever and in business circles it’s often part of the first impression someone makes. A weak and sweaty handshake can doom a deal or a candidate for a job before they even get to make their case. On the other side a firm grip with good posture and strong eye contact can give you an early advantage.

We are talking about a greeting that dates back to the 5th century B.C. in Greece. This handshake thing has serious tradition and can’t be easily replaced. I don’t know about you but I’m not ready to bow and the touching of elbows which some have done is frankly just dumb.

The fist bump which has become somewhat popular in the last couple of years is okay but it’s just not enough and again in the new normal still results in contact. I can’t see two world leaders agreeing on something and they doing a fist bump. It’s almost like signing a contract in invisible ink.

So while we are working on a vaccine how about the development of something to replace the handshake because without it I feel like we’ll never fully recover from this pandemic. We must find something in the U.S. or our future is doomed.

By the way I have no idea what we’re doing to do about hugging because that’s another topic for another day.